No Zach Randolph for Grizzlies vs. Kings, but no panic either despite losing streak

Memphis Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins calls a play against the Phoenix Suns during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

This just in: The sky has not fallen over FedExForum. Friday night's Grizzlies-Kings game is still set for a 7 p.m. tip, despite the fact the Griz have lost their last three games by an average of almost 23 points.

And there's the fact forward Zach Randolph won't play vs. the 15-24 Kings because of a lower back strain he sustained in Wednesday's 103-82 loss at San Antonio.

After losses by 21 points at Dallas, 26 to the Clippers and 21 to the Spurs, and the constant talk that the new Griz owners are talking trades, everyone acts like the Grizzlies are about to implode.

But a little context might be in order. The Grizzlies (24-13, fourth in the Western Conference) have not been in this situation before. They never started a season 12-2 like they did this year, and never beat last year's finalists and this year's hot Eastern Conference team (the Knicks) back-to-back.

Almost every other year prior to this, the Grizzlies were digging out of an early season hole.

"This is a whole new animal," point guard Mike Conley said after Friday morning's shootaround. "Before if we lost three in a row after starting slow, people might not be as critical and we could play our way out of it. Now we're under the microscope for our fast start, we have to get used to consistently performing at a high level.

"It's new to us, for all of us, we haven't been in this situation before where we considered a favorite almost every night. People expect to win and play hard."

Conley said the Grizzlies aren't losing because of trade rumors, but he did confirm he and center Marc Gasol met with new majority owner Robert Pera for a casual meal during a recent road trip at Golden State.

Conley said he and Gasol told Pera they'd like the current team to stay intact.

"We like our team," Conley said. "We've been together for so long the chemistry is there. We love each other as teammates. We made it a point to say that. Everything else we can't control."

Coach Lionel Hollins said the Grizzlies' fast start, partially due to a favorable early schedule loaded with home games, gave his team and fans in general a false sense of security.

"The difference in this season is we had a favorable early schedule, minimal games each month and lots of days in between to practice and clean up stuff," Hollins said. "It's like being in college again.

"In past years, we started slow, because we had a lot of road games against quality teams. We've always stuck after it, we get in a groove and we start playing. By us getting off to a 12-2 start this season, expectations changed. Now that we're back to who we are, people are saying `What's wrong?'

"We're still the same team we were last year and the year before. We still need to shoot the ball better consistently, we still need to execute better consistently. When we don't do those things well, we struggle offensively.

"We are still a team has to come out here, get on the floor, be physical, bump and grind and win. We can't play pretty. We've won a lot of games the last three years that haven't been pretty.

"We still have to battle. We have to do it all the time, or we get beat and beat bad. If we think we can play at a high rate of speed and shoot jumpers and not grind it out, we get beat."

And when Hollins looks at the Grizzlies' record, he realizes his team is still right where it needs to be. Oklahoma City (31-8), the Clippers (31-9) and the Spurs (30-11) are the class of the league, but defending champ Miami (26-12) has just two more wins than the Griz.

"It's still all about getting to the playoffs and getting a favorable matchup," Hollins said. "San Antonio had a great season two years ago when it was 66-16, but it got a bad matchup with us in the playoffs.

"Last year, we didn't have a good matchup with the Clippers. Everybody talks about us losing the first game the way we did, but we had six more games to proved we were the better team and we didn't."